Tuesday, 27 December 2011

50 years on

In the National Library of Wales is an untitled, silent film catalogued as “Aberystwyth Post Office”: as far as it’s possible to judge, it was made to describe or commemorate the opening of an extension to the sorting office. It lasts 2m40s.

It opens with a shot of a woman walking down Darkgate to enter the Post Office, of which more another time. It cuts to her walking down Stryd Y Bont to its junction with Tan Y Cae where at that time there was a shop. She places a letter in a postbox as does another passer-by, which is then emptied by a postman. A poster for the film “Quantrill’s Raiders” is just visible – this film was made in 1958 but it’s anyone’s guess how long it took to get to Aberystwyth. Let’s say it’s 50 years ago.